Rescuers learn to herd sheep, coax horses out of harm’s way

More than 90 law enforcement officers, firefighters, animal control professionals and horse enthusiasts came together over the weekend to learn how to get large animals out of tricky situations.

By ANTHONY DeFEOanthony.defeo@news-jrnl.com

DAYTONA BEACH — More than 90 law enforcement officers, firefighters, animal control professionals and horse enthusiasts came together over the weekend to learn how to get large animals out of tricky situations during accidents and natural disasters. Daytona State College offered the two-day course in Technical Large Animal Emergency Rescue. Saturday, the students spent most of the day in a classroom, learning about everything from cattle behavior to how to distract an animal. On Sunday, they put that knowledge to the test on live horses, sheep and other animals at the Volusia County Sheriff’s Office training complex near Tiger Bay State Forest. Rebecca Gimenez, who holds a doctorate in animal physiology from Clemson University, has been traveling across the country and teaching similar courses for more than a decade. “We do all kinds of training for firefighters, for emergency responders, veterinarians and horse people,” she said. “The best thing about this course is that it pulls all those folks into one place so they can kind of learn from each other.”The 94 students enrolled in the course represented over 50 different agencies — from police and fire departments, veterinary offices and others. Gimenez divided the class into small teams and tasked them with exercises like trying to corral different animals into a particular spot. She left the teams to their own devices at first, as they tried to get their hands around an uncooperative goat or sheep. After they struggled for a minute or two, Gimenez would coach them on what they were doing wrong and how to better trap, subdue or lift an animal. In one scenario, a team had to move two horses from an enclosure into a trailer without touching them. To coax them, they moved a flexible length of orange snow fence around to funnel them into the trailer.The skills taught at the course can be used for situations ranging from rescuing a horse stuck in muck to rounding up troublesome wild animals. It also could be helpful in an “agro-terrorism” situation — in fact, the course was funded by a Department of Homeland Security grant. Dee Ferguson, a supervisor with Volusia County Animal Services, said a lot of people in her agency and other law enforcement groups aren’t that familiar with large animals. “A lot of these people have never even been around a horse,” she said. “(The course) teaches them how to put a halter on, how to lead them. The instructor is letting them come in and get a feel for what a horse is going to do, how to read it and what they look like when they get panicked, so they don’t get hurt themselves.”Having so many agencies represented at the course was a plus, she said, because it puts everyone on the same page.Jonathan Vazquez, a wildlife officer with the Seminole Tribe of Florida, was one of the students who traveled hours to take the course.“Most of our calls are wildlife calls, but occasionally we do have cattle and horses that get out on the road and impede traffic,” he said. “This is definitely an amazing course that’s going to help us understand not only how the animal is going to work, but in an emergency situation, how to handle and control that situation.”